Bottas regrets too long a second stint in Mediums

On the 47th lap of the British Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas could not prevent Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) dive inside while braking at the Brooklands corner to recover first place and charge towards a new victory which allows the four-time world champion to widen the gap on Lewis Hamilton in the championship.

The Finn of Mercedes had however taken advantage of the intervention of the safety car, following the exit of the track of Marcus Ericsson (Sauber), to take first place. The old pilot Williams then made his first, and ultimately only, pit stop on the 21st lap, to put on Medium tires.

And if the second Safety Car intervention saw the Ferraris of Vettel and Räikkönen return to the pits to put on soft tires, Mercedes decided to leave its drivers on the track. A strategy that will not please leader Bottas, unable to keep up the pace of Vettel, Hamilton then Räikkönen in the final fight for the podium.

« We took the risk and we stayed on track to pass Sebastian again, says Bottas. It worked at first, everything went well. I was giving everything I could on the restarts (behind the safety car), and I had to push like in qualifying, but with about five laps to go, the tires couldn't take it anymore.

We knew that one stop wasn't going to be easy, but we decided to take the risk. Unfortunately, this stint on Medium tires was just a little too long today. It's always easy to judge these things in hindsight, but at the time we made this choice, I was on the same page.

I could have easily taken second today, but we decided to give it a go. I will continue to give everything and I am sure that one day it will work. »

Discover the full report and analysis of the British Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents at Silverstone, in AUTO issue 2173hebdo, available now in digital version, and on newsstands tomorrow.